City council breezes through light agenda

Castlegar City Council wrapped up its regular meeting on September 15 in about a half an hour.

The municipal group, minus Councillor Gord Turner, whisked through a relatively light agenda with no dissension and little discussion.

An easygoing atmosphere pervaded the chamber, likely due in part, as councillor Kevin Chernoff later suggested, that an active weekend had just been had by many council members, and a successful planning and development committee meeting had been concluded just prior to the public session which began at 7 p.m..

Revelations from the committee session included that new business licences had been issued to the Castlegar-based Warren’s Wok restaurant; Kootenay Cycling Inc.; and Discreet Ostomy, Compression and Foot care; along with The Last House Standing—a Nelson-based contractor—and Burr Renovation of Winlaw. It was also made public that building permits valued at just over $105,000 had been issued in the month of August leading to a year-to-date total of almost $4 million, an increase of some $300,000 over the same period in 2013.

A replot history update was supplied in the agenda, the report bringing council and the public up to speed on a situation that goes back to 1979 when certain land owners had been asked to have their properties resurveyed in the interest of enabling future development. A majority of those approached had agreed.

The replot area, as described in the agenda, is an area in south Castlegar, west of Columbia Avenue between 28th and 34th Streets.

The area of individual lots was “in excess of the minimum required for subdivision,” configured in such a way that a single property owner could not subdivide and provide road access and services.

Because of recent enquiries by a group of original landowners wishing to consolidate their properties for sale to a developer, the City has has agreed to a preliminary design of the servicing of the replot area to get an idea of the viability and cost of developing the land. The process is quite involved, taking into account roads, sewers, water and storm water considerations.

Councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff introduced the RCMP detachment’s Crime Reduction Report for August, mentioning how impressed she is by the sheer volume of the police workload. The police report contained incidents such as arrest of a prolific offender, arson, gunshots fired, etc., all in addition to keeping tabs on people on probation, answering complaints of raucous parties, plus dealing with a heavy schedule of traffic duty.

“It’s always interesting, the number of calls they get, and just what’s happening in our community,” said Heaton-Sherstobitoff. “Just how dedicated they are to make this a safe place.”